You wake up one morning and the world seems to be collapsing around you. Your tenuous time living with you parents because you are running out of money has gotten worse because you placed a bowl in the wrong place in a washing machine or forgot about a coupon to purchase a scooper for cleaning out leave troughs. The previous week a job hunting trip went bad because your car with 120,000 miles on it broke down on highway with steam coming out from underneath the hood. One day late in paying off your membership in your health club, you ask the owner if you can discount for doing some work around the gym. You are told that the gym has more than enough people working for them. Even if they did, you wouldn't be the one they would want. So it goes.
You can develop a real bad feeling about yourself if all this continues. Just because others suggest bad things doesn't mean they are true.
Life occassionally sends each of us life perservers. If these life persevers ar
So many of my clients, friends, family and colleagues find themselves unhappy dealing with expectations placed on them by family, friends, and society as a whole. Many of them have high-paying jobs, gorgeous families and seemingly nothing to be depressed about and yet they feel unsuccessful.
The problem is that we typically do not live our lives according to our own success definition. Instead we are governed by environmental influences that include family, especially parents and spouses; friends, culture and society. We make decisions based more upon what we believe is expected of us than what we truly want and desire. This brings upon stress and imbalance because when we live in other's expectations rather than in our own, we begin to move outside of our intended purpose. Without purpose, we can not feel truly passionate or fully committed to the journey.
To really be successful, you must first define what success means to you. Everyone has a very different
Not too long ago, I visited one of my passions: a national chain superstore. I've visited their stores in 42 states through travel and vacation, and am always fascinated by their retail philosophy. (Obviously, I need a life.)
On this day, I was in my car, stopped at a crosswalk, waiting on a couple to cross the street. Instead, they walked along the side of the street, not cutting through the waiting traffic. My car was partially hidden behind a large armored van making it's daily delivery. I knew the couple couldn't see me waiting for them.
After a few minutes, I decided to drive through the crosswalk since it was not being used by pedestrians. Of course, who decided to cross at the same time but the couple?! My car is a V8 and it roared by them, taking both by surprise. I felt bad yet could not stop without causing a traffic incident.
As I parked and headed to the store, the woman from the crosswalk jumped out
Meditation is a powerful tool used by millions of people worldwide as a method to reduce stress, increase spiritual growth and impact overall health and wellness. Unfortunately, there are many myths stigmatizing the art of meditation. Meditation is often thought of as a "clearing of the mind". This could not be further from the truth. Meditation is also often associated with the chanting of religious mantras. This is only one type of meditation. There are many different types of meditation and most have no association with any form of organized religion. When performed regularly, meditation can be instrumental in centering one with their intended purpose and opening the mind to greater enlightenment.
Meditation, by definition, is continuous and profound concentration on a single subject. It is to give something your complete, undivided attention. The very meaning of the word does much to dispel the beliefs that meditati
Last weekend, my 12-year-old niece and namesake, Allison Anne, visited for a new family tradition: Camp Allison. My niece somehow inherited my crazed addiction to crafting - give us a hot glue gun, Modge-Podge or sewing pattern, and we can go for days...and we did! Three days, to be exact. The crafting began on Friday afternoon with painted jewelry, followed by decoupage candles, followed by sewing a bath wrap, followed by handmade purses, followed by rhinestone nail art with mall shopping thrown in for good measure. It was crazy, non-stop, crafting mania for all three days. So you might be wondering, "What does this have to do with the title?"
Allison Anne is incredibly bright, catches on in a nanosecond and is completely adept at multi-tasking at least 4 projects at once. She is certainly a product of our crazy-busy environment, and quite comfortable in it. When it was time to slow down and hand stitch the straps onto our purses,
It's been a crazy day and you have a 10 minute window to miss the rush hour crush...you're tempted to run out the door without planning for tomorrow's agenda. What difference could 10 minutes make? Actually, more than you might think. Time management experts use the 1:3 ratio: for every minute you spend planning, you save three in actual application or task. So spending 10 minutes at the end of the day saves 30 minutes in the morning. You can start your day focused and ready to produce, versus floundering and trying to remember where you left off.
Organizing your to-do list is just the first step of a productive day. The second, and possibly most important, is to identify your most critical tasks. Critical tasks are usually activities specified in your job description; tasks delegated by your immediate supervisor; and/or have the greatest impact on company profit or revenue line. NY Times best-selling author Julie Morgenste
What happens to you when you become anxious? Butterflies in your stomach? Tight muscles? Pressure in your chest? A racing heartbeart? Dry throat and sweating palms? An inability to think clearly? An inability to sleep?
If these things are familar to you, you are not alone. Millions of North Americans are taking daily medication to subdue this uneasy cascade of symptoms and feelings that we lump together in the term "anxiety."
When would it be useful to experience the symptoms of anxiety?
If you are like most of my clients, they retort, " What? Useful!? It is never useful to feel that way!"
But if it were useful, in what context would the anxiety reaction help us? The answer is, that in an immediately life threatening situation, the adrenalin making your stomach queasy will help you run faster, as will the tight muscles and racing heart. T
Losing someone we love can be one of the most challenging stressors we face as human beings.
Science shows us that "two hearts that beat as one" is more than a poetic concept. It's literal. When we fall in love, our heartbeats literally get in synch, internally and with one another, and beat as "one heart."When we lose a loved one, either through death or separation, having that "other" heart we entrained with go away can give us a lost feeling. We may think that it is the absence of the other person that creates this uncomfortable sensation we call a "broken heart." But in fact, it is our own grief reaction which causes our heart rhythms to take on a chaotic pattern, throwing everything else out of whack with them. The good news is that we can access the power, beauty, and joy that we feel when we are in synch with the objectof our love, even
The holidays are over. You might think that putting the end-of-year frenzy behind them would mean your staff and team are revving up for the first quarter.
But instead, they have 'the blah's:' a mix of diminished enthusiasm and stress that seems to hit each year after the holidays. The good news is: 'the blah's' are cyclical. When business picks up, so will your staff's energy and productivity.
But why wait? Sure, all things change and this, too, will pass. But what if you could take charge of 'the blah's' with a few "Aha's!" ? In other words, use this low cycle for teambuilding and motivational activities.
Set aside time to meet with your managers and brief them on the inevitable peaks and valleys of the coming year. Even experienced managers sometimes forget that post-holiday stres
